The police officer had acted with an arrest warrant called “No Knock” (“Without knocking on the door”), involved in several dossiers of police violence against the black community in the United States.
Le Monde and AFP
The minnesota prosecutor announced, Wednesday, April 6, that he renounced to continue the policeman accused of killing an African American during a search for Minneapolis in February, considering that there was no enough evidence that the agent had violated the law. “After a careful study of all the elements available, (…) there is not enough eligible evidence to trigger prosecution in this case,” defended in a Press release The Prosecutor, Keith Ellison.
By the voice of his lawyer Ben Crump, the young man’s family said “deeply disappointed” by the decision of the Prosecutor, believing that “the tragic death” of Amir Locke “should never have arrived” . The lawyer announced civil prosecution in this case.
Amir Locke, 22, had been shot on February 2nd in the early morning by a police officer, acting with an arrest warrant said no Knock (“without knocking on the door”), issued as part of an investigation For homicide, in an apartment of this metropolis of the northern United States which remains traumatized by the murder of George Floyd in May 2020. After the drama, the family had denounced an “execution”, accusing the agents to have “left” No chance “to their son.
A drama in less than nine seconds
A video broadcast by the forces of the order a few days after his death shows agents enter with a key, then loudly. Amir Locke, asleep on the living room sofa, then agitates under his duvet, grabs a pistol and straightened slightly. Shots are resonating. Everything lasts less than nine seconds.
“There is no evidence that [Amir Locke] was a suspect or intended to hurt the police officer” taking his weapon, “said Ellison at a conference of hurry. But other videos recorded by the pedestrian cameras of the other present policemen have shown that the weapon “was pointed towards the police officer” who shot the shots, “he said.